Royal South Australia Regiment

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=The Royal South Australia Regiment


caption=Cap badge of the Royal South Australia Regiment
dates=1960-current
country=Australia
branch=Army
type=Line Infantry
role=Light Role
size=One battalion
command_structure=Royal Australian Infantry Corps
current_commander=
garrison=10th/27th Battalion - Keswick
ceremonial_chief=HM The Queen
(Royal Australian Infantry Corps)
ceremonial_chief_label=Colonel-in-Chief
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
motto="Pro Patria" (For Country)
colors=
colors_label=
identification_symbol=
identification_symbol_label=Unit Colour Patch
identification_symbol_2= [http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb309/hammersfan_01/Tartans/SeaforthMackenzie.gifSeaforth Mackenzie]
identification_symbol_2_label=Tartan
identification_symbol_4=RSAR
identification_symbol_4_label=Abbreviation
march="Song of Australia/Scotland the Brave"
mascot=
battles=
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=The Royal South Australia Regiment is a reserve regiment of the Australian Army consisting of a single battalion, the 10th/27th Battalion, part of the 9th Brigade. It was raised on 1st July 1960 as The South Australia Regiment.

History

The Regiment traces much of its history to early volunteer and citizen militia units from pre-federation Australia. The history of the units that formed the current Regiment are dealt with individually on those pages.

1960 - Present

On the 1st of July 1960 the South Australia Regiment was formed by the amalgamation of three infantry battalions in South Australia:
*The 10th Infantry Battalion (The Adelaide Rifles)
*43rd/48th Infantry Battalion (The Hindmarsh Regiment)
*27th Infantry Battalion (The South Australia Scottish Regiment).

These three battalions were formed into 5 Companies:

*A Company (The South East Company) (from the SA Scottish Regt)
*B Company (The River Company) (from the SA Scotish Regt)
*C Company (The Mid North Company) (from the Hindmarsh Regt)
*D Company (The Adelaide Company) (from the Adelaide Rifles)
*E Company (The Port Adelaide Company) (from the Adelaide Rifles)

Later in 1960, The Regiment was renamed 1st Battalion Royal South Australia Regiment, bringing it in line with the other State and National regiments. On 1 July 1965, the Regiment was reformed as 2 battalions, taking their names from the battalions that formed the regiment: The 10th and 27th. On the 29 November 1987, the 10th and 27th battalions were amalgamated to form the 10/27 Battalion Royal South Australia Regiment, the Regiment's current title.

Other information

*Freedoms:
**Unley 2006

Preceding Units

The organisation of military units in Australia has been a complex and shifting affair since colonisation. The following is an attempt to list the preceding units of the RSAR in chronological order. Units were raised, disbanded and perpetuated in a variety of forms that is not easy to show in a simple list. Often units, depending on their status as volunteer, militia, or regular, were similarly numbered and named, for example the 43rd Infantry Battalion and 2/43 Battalion, AIF in WWII, and often units were split, amalgamated, resplit and reformed, making it almost impossible to create a straight family tree as is often seen for the British Army.

A broad statement is that the Royal South Australia Regiment is preceded by units often known as the 10th (or 78th or Adelaide Rifles), 27th (or SA Scottish or Boothby), 43rd (or 76th or SA Infantry or Hindmarsh), and 48th (or Torrens), and units bearing these designations are now perpetuated in RSAR.

*1st and 2nd Battalions Adelaide Rifles: 1854 - 1856
*Adelaide Regiment of Volunteer Rifles: 1860 - 1866, 1866 - 1867
*Prince Alfred's Rifle Volunteers: 1867 - 1867
*Regiment of Adelaide Rifles: 1877 - 1888?
*1st Regiment South Australian Infantry: 1888? - 1903
*10th Australian Infantry Regiment (Adelaide Rifles) : 1903 - 1912
*South Australian Infantry Regiment: 1903 -
*South Australian Scottish Infantry: 1903 -
*76th Battalion Senior Cadets: ? - 1918
*78th Battalion Senior Cadets: ? - 1918
*1st Battalion, 10th Australian Infantry Regiment: 1903 - 1912
*78th Infantry (Adelaide Rifles): 1912 - 1912
*76th Infantry: 1912 - 1913
*76th (Hindmarsh) Infantry: 1913 - 1918
*43rd Battalion, AIF: 1914 - 1918
*43rd Infantry Battalion (The Hindmarsh Regiment): 1918 - 1921
*10th Infantry Regiment (The Adelaide Rifles): 1918 - 1921
*10th Battalion: 1921 - 1927
*43rd Battalion: 1921 - 1927
*10th Battalion (The Adelaide Rifles): 1927 - 1930, 1936 - 1942
*43rd Battalion (The Hindmarsh Regiment): 1927 - 1930
*10th/50th Battalion: 1930 - 1936
*43rd/48th Battalion: 1930 - 1942?
*2/43rd Battalion, AIF: 1939 - 1945?
*10th/48th Battalion] : 1942 - 1943
*43rd Australian Infantry Battalion: 1942? - 1944
*10th/48th Australian Infantry Battalion] : 1943 - 1945
*10th Infantry Battalion (The Adelaide Rifles): 1948 - 1960
*43rd/48th Infantry Battalion (The Hindmarsh Regiment): 1952 - 1960
*43rd (Remote Area) Battalion, The Royal South Australia Regiment: 1966 - 1987?
*27th Infantry Battalion (The South Australia Scottish Regiment)
*74th Infantry
*1st Battalion South Australia Infantry
*74th (Boothby) Infantry
*27th Infantry (Boothby Regiment)
*27th Battalion AIF
*2/27th Battalion AIF
*27th Battalion (Boothby Regiment)
*27th Battalion (South Australian Regiment)
*27th Battalion (South Australian Scottish Regiment)
*48th Infantry Battalion (The Torrens Regiment)
*10th/48th Infantry Battalion
*

Contemporary Times

The unit has diminished in numbers considerably in the past 10 years, and it has lost it's support company (2007). However, this change has seen the unit provide infantry soldiers for three Solomon Island Rotations in the past 2 years. It has also provided soldiers to for operational service in East Timor and as UN observers in the Sinai.

The unit is currently experiencing its highest operational tempo in many years, and it provides the majority of soldiers for operations within the 9th Brigade.

The unit also has provided reserve soldiers to Australian Army Special Forces Selection. The Regiment usually provides up to six reserve candidates a year for selection. In recent time reserve soldiers from the Regiment have been selected for service into Special Operations Command Australia units. The unit also provides a number of soldiers to the Royal Australia Regiment yearly who transfer to the Australian Regular Army.

Alliances

*GBR - The Highlanders
*GBR - The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border)
*NZL - The Otago and Southland Regiment

Battle honours

*South Africa 1899-1902
*WWI
**"Middle East": Egypt 1915-1916, Landing At Anzac, Gallipoli 1915
**"Western Front": Pozieres, Messines 1917, Menin Road, Amiens, Somme 1916-1918, France and Flanders 1916,1918, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcapelle, Bullecourt, Ypres 1917, Passchendaele, Mont St Quentin, Beaurevoir, Hindenburg Line, Albert 1918
*WWII
**"North Africa and Middle East": North Africa 1941, Syria 1941, The Litani, Sidon, Adlun, Damour, Defence of Tobruk, The Salient 1941, El Alamein,
**"Pacific": South-West Pacific 1942-1945, Buna, Gona, Cape Endaidere-Simemi Creek, Sanananda-Cape Killerton, Milne Bay, Liberation of Australian New Guinea, Shaggy Ridge, Efogi-Menari, Finschhafen, Kokoda Trail, Ramu Valley, Sattelberg, Borneo, Balikpapan

References

* [http://www.defence.gov.au/army/10_27rsar/index.htm | The Official 10/27 RSAR Homepage]
* [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-army-today/state-regts/rsar.htm | Digger History: an unofficial history of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces]
* [http://www.regiments.org/regiments/australia/volmil/sa-inf/RSAR.htm | Land Forces of Britain, The Empire and Commonwealth]